The fact that this card puts your Time Spiral and expropriate type cards back where they can be cast would really set this card aside and give it a place in commander. Of course, it might dump those cards into your graveyard by accident, making them a bit harder to access... plus 8 mana is nothing to sneeze at. Only approaches broken with Narset, from what I can tell.
If mass un-exiling ever becomes a thing, i think that this is how it would be done. Nice work.
Re: Reprints - You say WOTC doesn't have incentive to feed us reprints; but you can't have it both ways - either (C) cards sell a set, or they don't. The consensus is that they don't sell the set, that's why common cards are designed "for limited" (and nothing else). But if they don't sell sets, putting constructed playable commons in the set... might.
I... don't see this as a conflict in the same way that you do.
Yes, high-value commons can make a set better value for cracking packs or limited play. Unfortunately, Wizards has other factors to take into consideration which may outweigh the marginal benefit of good commons. For example...
1. Design Space: Because core sets allow them to reprint the same cards over and over again, Wizards is preserving available design space. I know that this doesn't always make sense on the surface. It is easy for us to say that Spectacle isn't coming back, for instance, and be angry that we are probably never going to see an instant-speed spectacle staple now that this set goofed it up. That just isn't true, however. There were cards in Kaladesh with "Metalcraft" and "Affinity for Artifacts". Further, "Ferocious" is a secondary theme in Jund colors for RNA. Wizards could technically print that instant-speed "spectacle" staple in literally any set (probably at uncommon or rare).
2. Power Creep: Staying with the same "baseline" cards in core set after coreset allows wizards to maintain a very precise level of control over the power of different effects, whereas creating new and "competitive" variants in each set would risk speeding up power creep (which may be bad for the long-term health of the game).
These are difficult factors to directly see or measure, which admittedly makes it hard to counter. I guess that my point is that Wizards isn't guided purely to create good commons. Other factors may be inviting them to keep the status quo even if good commons would make money.
Why are you adding Pounce and Siren's Ruse to Ixalan's list if we aren't adding Titanic Brawl and Justiciar's Portal to RNA's list? We're talking about constructed play here, right? Considering that Titanic Brawl is literally a directly superior version of pounce, I can imagine no context in which that Pounce is seen as valuable in constructed play. Also, if we're talking about ACTUAL constructed play, I doubt that half of those cards you listed really saw much FNM play outside of Arena starters.
And yes, Opt gets a lot of play. It was put in Ixalan before they decided to start making core sets again... which may also play a part in the lower number of playable commons. Now that core 2019 can fit Invoke the Divine, Luminous Bonds, Anticipate, Cancel, Disperse, Essence Scatter, Divination, Omenspeaker, Duress, Mind Rot, Electrify, Shock, Smelt, Druid of the Cowl, Naturalize, Root Snare, Titanic Growth, Manalith, and ten common tap-lands... and since rotation was returned to once per year... Wizards doesn't have a strong incentive to feed us strong reprints through other sets unless it's a direct callback (such as dead weight and electromancer coming from a previous Ravnica block). In other words, Wizards doesn't have to give us a competitive pump common and competitive discard common and competitive burn common in each set as they know that we'll always have access to at least one baseline common through the yearly core set... which the design team probably didn't know when they were designing Dominaria.
Honestly, I think that you might have the situation a bit backwards... Rather than RNA having markably FEWER good commons, I think that Dominaria and Guilds may have had notably MORE good than average (in the "new world order"):
Whenever a new set comes out, there are inevitably some card designs that I am looking for... and don't find. These are a few of the cards that I was hoping to see this time around.
Soultether Thrull
Creature- Thrull (C)
Flying : Soultether Thrull gains Afterlife 2 until end of turn.
2/2
Yeah, that's for 2 power in the air that lets you pay for another 2 power in the air later on. Consider it a "fixed" Lingering Souls.
Taxed Collectors
Creature- Human Warrior (U)
Afterlife 4, Defender
4/4 For a blessed few, the weight of obligation is literal.
I honestly figured that afterlife is a rare chance to give combo lovers a bit of love if Wizards produced even one creature with an Afterlife Count:Mana Cost ratio sufficient to make a hypothetical infinite loop with the right pieces (think Abhorrent Overlord). The above card is not particularly "good" outside of limited play but gets enough tokens for cards like Phyrexian Altar and Ashnod's Altar to get interesting.
Chapel Guardian
Creature- Human Soldier (C)
Afterlife 1
0/3
Yeah, the lack of a Doomed Traveler in this set is pretty notable. While I know that we have Hunted Witness, I still wish that there was a one-drop with afterlife.
Orzhov-style Griffin Guide so there's at least one card that can give out afterlife.
Insured Entrepreneur
Creature- Human Rogue (U)
Afterlife 1 , Sacrifice Insured Entrepreneur: Draw two cards and lose two life.
2/1 Orzhov advokists scoff at claims that 'you can't take it with you'
Just wanted a single self-sacking card with afterlife. Doesn't seem too crazy.
Physical Repossession
Instant (C)
Target creature gets -4/-4 and gains Afterlife 1 until end of turn. "I suppose we could sell this to a rot-farm..."
Given the original card Afterlife, I am kind of shocked that there isn't any kill spell that replaces the opponent's creature with a spirit.
Personally, I have some additional commons that I'm looking forward to: Impassioned Orator: Even if I'd rather have a Suture Priest, I always like having an additional Soul Warden effect available in standard. I also think that this card may replace Ajani's Welcome in some decks running Leonin Vanguard as it counts as an additional creature and doesn't fight with the vanguard for the first turn play. A bit niche but certainly worth experimenting with. Clear the Mind: While this card may be situational in the extreme, I am actively running a deck that uses Gaea's Blessing at the moment and this card will be a clear replacement. If you call Gideon's Reproach a "good" common from Dominaria, I feel safe listing this as a usable common from Allegiance. Prying Eyes: From what I can tell, this is the first common printed with the text "Draw four cards" (which has implications in pauper/peasant). While Foresee digs deeper, instant speed cannot be ignored and I may want one or two. Sage's Row Savant: I can't imagine that an Aggressive Omenspeaker wouldn't have some applications worth looking into. Undercity's Embrace: It has actually been quite a while since we have seen a common edict effect (otherwise, we only have plaguecrafter and a 5-drop saga). Instant speed and synergy with Doom Whisperer (and the new mythic demon) may give this card a role to play in standard. Skewer the Critics: While the card has been brought up already, it really is that good. I predict that most of the use will be in Modern, where burn decks haven't quite reached peak saturation of bolt effects. In that environment, Skewer might actually be (slightly) better than Lava Spike as it could potentially hit other targets. Footlight Fiend: If mardu aristocrats successfully takes off in this environment, I think that Hunted Witness may have some real competition from this devil. If you have Judith on the field, this 1/1 devil can effecitvely trade with a 4/4.
Edit: as far as interesting cards...
Impassioned orator gives another soul warden effect if you need more of those (and may replace ajani's enchantment in some decks)
Justiciar's portal is a cheap flicker that doubles as a combat trick (nice for EDH)
Clear the mind may actually see play in some fringe standard decks (including an archetype I actually use)
Catacomb crocodile has amazing flavor text.
Vindictive vampire is the last component that mardu aristocrats really needed from this set
Goblin Gathering may have some niche applications... worth experimenting with
Open the Gates is pretty great. Glad to see that wizards will give us an improved Lay of the Land even if they think that rampant growth is too strong.
Applied biomancy looks relatively efficient in the right deck.
Lawmage's binding is decent (arrest with flash is nice)
...oh, and it looks like mill might be a real archetype in limited (the advisor is helped out by a wall, a counterspell, and an equipment card)
I'm going to echo the sentiment that we won't get a timeshifted sheet of planeswalkers. After using the mythic editions to sell reprints of planeswalkers, giving them out "for free" in each pack would create TONS of bad will toward WotC. Honestly, I don't see how Wizards could possibly make a more planeswalker-ish set than Dominaria (where legendary spells and historic interact with walkers) without ruining limited.
What I do predict, however, is a bunch of cards that mention planeswalkers by name. That basic land might be replaced by Liliana's Reaver, Gideon's Reproach, or Tezzeret's Gambit, for example (allowing wizards to show off small snippets of the greater war) There might be a couple of walkers on the sheet but I expect that players are at least as likely to open Chandra's Phoenix as they are an actual Chandra.
This card stands out to me as surprisingly complex for a common, enough so that I'm surprised it's being printed in a standard set in the "new world order"
Could it be that this is a rare example of a card having its rarity lowered for limited play?
Demotivate
Sorcery (U)
Target opponent reveals his or her hand and discards two nonland cards. Thought matters little without a solid goal.
Just a thought for a playable mind rot variant that I picked up on, forcing your opponent to discard actual gas (no discarding lands) but having no specific control over what they ditch. Did I use the right language for this card?
If mass un-exiling ever becomes a thing, i think that this is how it would be done. Nice work.
I... don't see this as a conflict in the same way that you do.
Yes, high-value commons can make a set better value for cracking packs or limited play. Unfortunately, Wizards has other factors to take into consideration which may outweigh the marginal benefit of good commons. For example...
1. Design Space: Because core sets allow them to reprint the same cards over and over again, Wizards is preserving available design space. I know that this doesn't always make sense on the surface. It is easy for us to say that Spectacle isn't coming back, for instance, and be angry that we are probably never going to see an instant-speed spectacle staple now that this set goofed it up. That just isn't true, however. There were cards in Kaladesh with "Metalcraft" and "Affinity for Artifacts". Further, "Ferocious" is a secondary theme in Jund colors for RNA. Wizards could technically print that instant-speed "spectacle" staple in literally any set (probably at uncommon or rare).
2. Power Creep: Staying with the same "baseline" cards in core set after coreset allows wizards to maintain a very precise level of control over the power of different effects, whereas creating new and "competitive" variants in each set would risk speeding up power creep (which may be bad for the long-term health of the game).
These are difficult factors to directly see or measure, which admittedly makes it hard to counter. I guess that my point is that Wizards isn't guided purely to create good commons. Other factors may be inviting them to keep the status quo even if good commons would make money.
Why are you adding Pounce and Siren's Ruse to Ixalan's list if we aren't adding Titanic Brawl and Justiciar's Portal to RNA's list? We're talking about constructed play here, right? Considering that Titanic Brawl is literally a directly superior version of pounce, I can imagine no context in which that Pounce is seen as valuable in constructed play. Also, if we're talking about ACTUAL constructed play, I doubt that half of those cards you listed really saw much FNM play outside of Arena starters.
And yes, Opt gets a lot of play. It was put in Ixalan before they decided to start making core sets again... which may also play a part in the lower number of playable commons. Now that core 2019 can fit Invoke the Divine, Luminous Bonds, Anticipate, Cancel, Disperse, Essence Scatter, Divination, Omenspeaker, Duress, Mind Rot, Electrify, Shock, Smelt, Druid of the Cowl, Naturalize, Root Snare, Titanic Growth, Manalith, and ten common tap-lands... and since rotation was returned to once per year... Wizards doesn't have a strong incentive to feed us strong reprints through other sets unless it's a direct callback (such as dead weight and electromancer coming from a previous Ravnica block). In other words, Wizards doesn't have to give us a competitive pump common and competitive discard common and competitive burn common in each set as they know that we'll always have access to at least one baseline common through the yearly core set... which the design team probably didn't know when they were designing Dominaria.
Let's look at Rivals of Ixalan
Martyr of Dusk, Moment of Triumph, Mist-Cloaked Herald, Secrets of the Golden City (?), Dusk Legion Zealot, Moment of Craving, Shatter, Naturalize, Plummet, Traveler's Amulet, Evolving Wilds... smaller set but only 11 cards.
Let's look back to Ixilan:
Demystify, Kinjalli's Caller, Cancel, Dive Down, Opt, Spell Pierce, Dire Fleet Hoarder (?), Duress, March of the Drowned, Hijack, Commune with Dinosaurs, Crushing Canopy, Tishana's Wayfinder (?)... That's only 13 cards.
What about Hour of Devastation:
Oketra's Avenger, Unsummon, Crash Through, Firebrand Archer, Manalith, Traveler's Amulet, 6 common deserts... That's barely 12 cards, even counting manalith as a "staple".
Amonkhet?
Annointer Priest, Binding Mummy, Forsake the Worldly, Sacred Cat, Essence Scatter, Heiroglyphic Illumination, Scribe of the Mindful, Doomed Dissenter, Supernatural Stamina (?), Cartouche of Zeal, Electrify, Fling, Gift of Paradise, Haze of Pollen, Evolving Wilds, 3 common deserts... 18 cards.
So... yeah. Just trying to put some additional perspective out there.
Soultether Thrull
Creature- Thrull (C)
Flying
2/2
Yeah, that's
Taxed Collectors
Creature- Human Warrior (U)
Afterlife 4, Defender
4/4
For a blessed few, the weight of obligation is literal.
I honestly figured that afterlife is a rare chance to give combo lovers a bit of love if Wizards produced even one creature with an Afterlife Count:Mana Cost ratio sufficient to make a hypothetical infinite loop with the right pieces (think Abhorrent Overlord). The above card is not particularly "good" outside of limited play but gets enough tokens for cards like Phyrexian Altar and Ashnod's Altar to get interesting.
Chapel Guardian
Creature- Human Soldier (C)
Afterlife 1
0/3
Yeah, the lack of a Doomed Traveler in this set is pretty notable. While I know that we have Hunted Witness, I still wish that there was a one-drop with afterlife.
Spiritual Retinue
Enchantment- Aura (U)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 and gains Afterlife 2
Orzhov-style Griffin Guide so there's at least one card that can give out afterlife.
Insured Entrepreneur
Creature- Human Rogue (U)
Afterlife 1
2/1
Orzhov advokists scoff at claims that 'you can't take it with you'
Just wanted a single self-sacking card with afterlife. Doesn't seem too crazy.
Physical Repossession
Instant (C)
Target creature gets -4/-4 and gains Afterlife 1 until end of turn.
"I suppose we could sell this to a rot-farm..."
Given the original card Afterlife, I am kind of shocked that there isn't any kill spell that replaces the opponent's creature with a spirit.
Impassioned Orator: Even if I'd rather have a Suture Priest, I always like having an additional Soul Warden effect available in standard. I also think that this card may replace Ajani's Welcome in some decks running Leonin Vanguard as it counts as an additional creature and doesn't fight with the vanguard for the first turn play. A bit niche but certainly worth experimenting with.
Clear the Mind: While this card may be situational in the extreme, I am actively running a deck that uses Gaea's Blessing at the moment and this card will be a clear replacement. If you call Gideon's Reproach a "good" common from Dominaria, I feel safe listing this as a usable common from Allegiance.
Prying Eyes: From what I can tell, this is the first common printed with the text "Draw four cards" (which has implications in pauper/peasant). While Foresee digs deeper, instant speed cannot be ignored and I may want one or two.
Sage's Row Savant: I can't imagine that an Aggressive Omenspeaker wouldn't have some applications worth looking into.
Undercity's Embrace: It has actually been quite a while since we have seen a common edict effect (otherwise, we only have plaguecrafter and a 5-drop saga). Instant speed and synergy with Doom Whisperer (and the new mythic demon) may give this card a role to play in standard.
Skewer the Critics: While the card has been brought up already, it really is that good. I predict that most of the use will be in Modern, where burn decks haven't quite reached peak saturation of bolt effects. In that environment, Skewer might actually be (slightly) better than Lava Spike as it could potentially hit other targets.
Footlight Fiend: If mardu aristocrats successfully takes off in this environment, I think that Hunted Witness may have some real competition from this devil. If you have Judith on the field, this 1/1 devil can effecitvely trade with a 4/4.
Just visited the card gallery and it looks like everything is up
here you go
Edit: as far as interesting cards...
Impassioned orator gives another soul warden effect if you need more of those (and may replace ajani's enchantment in some decks)
Justiciar's portal is a cheap flicker that doubles as a combat trick (nice for EDH)
Clear the mind may actually see play in some fringe standard decks (including an archetype I actually use)
Catacomb crocodile has amazing flavor text.
Vindictive vampire is the last component that mardu aristocrats really needed from this set
Goblin Gathering may have some niche applications... worth experimenting with
Open the Gates is pretty great. Glad to see that wizards will give us an improved Lay of the Land even if they think that rampant growth is too strong.
Applied biomancy looks relatively efficient in the right deck.
Lawmage's binding is decent (arrest with flash is nice)
...oh, and it looks like mill might be a real archetype in limited (the advisor is helped out by a wall, a counterspell, and an equipment card)
What I do predict, however, is a bunch of cards that mention planeswalkers by name. That basic land might be replaced by Liliana's Reaver, Gideon's Reproach, or Tezzeret's Gambit, for example (allowing wizards to show off small snippets of the greater war) There might be a couple of walkers on the sheet but I expect that players are at least as likely to open Chandra's Phoenix as they are an actual Chandra.
Turbo fog is going to be kinda crazy
Could it be that this is a rare example of a card having its rarity lowered for limited play?
Sorcery (U)
Target opponent reveals his or her hand and discards two nonland cards.
Thought matters little without a solid goal.
Just a thought for a playable mind rot variant that I picked up on, forcing your opponent to discard actual gas (no discarding lands) but having no specific control over what they ditch. Did I use the right language for this card?
The fact that I can flip a coin to make copies of Rakdos to flip a bunch more coins is just gravy.